Pneumatic cotton cleaner



Feb. 7, 1928.

1,658,493 c. M. NEvlTT PNEUMATIC COTTON CLEANER Filed March 5, 192'? 2 Sheets-Sheet l Feb. 7, 1928.

C. M. NEVITT PNEUMTIG COTTON CLEANER 2 ySheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 5. 1927 Patented Feb. 7, 1928.

UNiTEDfsTATEs PATENT OFFICE.

CHARLES M. NEVITT,. OFDALLAS, TEXAS, ASSIGNOR TO THE MURRAY COMPANY, OF DALLAS, TEXAS, A CORPORATION OF TEXAS.A

PNETJIVIIA'IICDl COTTON CLEANER.

Application filed March 5, 17927. Serial No. 173,160.

My invention is a pneumatic cotton cleaner, for removing fiakes ofleaf trash and shale, sand, dust and the like', adhering to locks of seed cotton, as it reaches the ginnery, by carrying the seed cotton upon a travelling screen operatively adjacent to the open ends'of a succession of suction air nozzles or slots, whereby high speed air cur-4 rents are successively caused to pass through the cotton, with the effect, that the seed cotton is caused to slightly shift and rise and fall as the successive air blasts become effective. l

- Inthe drawings:

Figure l is alongitudinal sectional elevation of one form of my device taken on line l 1 1 of Figure 2;

Figure 2 is a cross-sectionall elevation on line 2 2 of Figure l; 'f

Figure 3 is a longitudinal sectional, elevationof amodified form of my machine;

Figure et is a plan view of the machine of Figure 1;

Figure' is a cross-section on line 5-5 of Figure 3; l

Figure 5Ct is a fragmentary detail on line Erl- 5a of'Figure 3. f

In .allseed cotton,`as it` reaches the ginnery, there is more or less leaf trash, dust, sand, shale and other impurities associated With the cotton fibres, which impurities are accumulated during the growtlnpicking .and handling of the cotton, ybefore it reaches the ginnery. In some lots of cotton thesey impurities are in` such quantity `and size that special apparatus must be employed to break up the foreign materia-l, particu larly bells, and remove as much as possible, but in such cases the cleaned cotton still contains a considerable quantity of line impuri ties which the cleaner, designed for removingl larger impurities, is not Well adapted to remove. f Cotton that has been picked fully matured as Well asy that which has been snapped in the boll, or pulled after the bolls and foliage are dead and dry, contains some fine foreign matter, and this fine Ydirt presents a problem for the ginner that has never been fully solved. This leaf trash, shale, sand, etc. must be eliminated, if at all, before ginning, While the cotton is on the seed. otherwise it becomes tangled in the lint and causesthe yarnto break during the spinning process, as 'carding the cotton does lnot eliminate this dirt, but merely combs out the cotton fibres in parallelism. 'This line dirt, with its effect upon the spinning is the main cause of the low value of bolly, sandy cotton.

Hitherto seed cotton has been cleaned of this fine dirt, by forcibly beating and forcibly dragging over stationary screens of Wire mesh of perforated iron, either in free air or with suction continuously applied to one side of the screen, Aover which, screen the cotton was moved by gravity or mechanical means. Y

In my new cleaner', the line dirt, sand, shale, leaf trash, etc., is removed from seed cotton by high speed air currents applied intermittently and repeatedly through a travelling screen or mesh, upon or .adjacent tov which the seed cotton isdisposed.

Preferably the air current is induced by a suction element on the opposite side of the screen from that upon which the seed cotton is and the seed cotton and its several parts are alternately subjected to suction air cur rents and released therefrom, so'that each particle of seed cotton is repeatedly acted upon as the travelling screen moves.

Figures 1 and'2 show my invention embodied in its simplest form.' Within a framecasing 1 is mounted a screen drum 2 in the present instance tivo drums,:2 and 2"l are shown. These drums are formed by rings 3, 3f of Wood or metal, around which the screen mesh 2l is placed. The ring 3 on one sidey isconnected by a spider 4 to a hub bearing 4 carried by and connected to a shaft 5, carried in bearings 6 supported by the frame 1. vPulleys 7, 7, 7b, are mounted upon the shaft.l Pulley 7 receives the belt from av main power shaft, pulley 7u is a loose pulley and pulley 7b carries a belt to drive the pulley 7 upon the second cylinder.

At the upper end of casing 1, directly over drum 2 is a feed opening 8 through which the cotton to be treated is introduced into the machine, usuallyby means of a feed mechanism designed to feed the cotton in uniform quantity. The entering cotton is received by the drum beneath, turning as indicated by the arrow and moved (to the right, in Figure 1) and deposited on drum 2a Which carries it along and drops it by gravity into exit 9, in or beneath which may be a belt or other conveyor. These feed and delivery mechanisms `are not shown as they form no part of my invention and such mechanisms are well known in connection with all sorts of cotton handling machines.

is l have described and shown in the drawings, the drums 2, 2ad are supported at one end, the other end being open at its axis to receive an exhaust pipe 10 leading to a suction fan, not shown, This method of supporting the drinn for rotation is satisfactory for the purpose in hand but l do not intend to limit myself to this one sided support. Fixed within the drum is a suction chamber ll, having longitudinal slotsv llfL in its upper surface, over which thescreen 2D travels as the drums 2, 2a, are rotated. ln the drawings the space between the surface of chambe-r ll and screen 2b is necessarily exaggerated, for purposes of illustration and the saine is true of the proportional rbreadth of slots lla. lt will be understood however that the screen is close to the surface of the chamber ll and that the slots l1 are relatively narrow openings.

llhe operation of the suction fan creates a partial vacuum inthe chamber ll and the tension thus created causes the inrush of air through feed opening, screen 2" and slots 11n. ln operation, when seed cotton in a relatively even stream is introduced into feed opening 8 it is received bythe screen beneath the opening and carried along, successively passing slots l1 during itsA travel through the machine, the air stream generated by thefan, while a given lock of cotton is over a slot, rushing through from above into the suction chamber and to the fan. Between the spaced slots there is no air current and the seed cotton which while over a'slot isslightly pressed by the moving air is relieved and slightly lifts by its inherent resiliency, shifting the relations of its constituent fibres slightly and at each movement tending `to loosen without force any extra neous matter, as shale or leaf particles, sand or the like, attached to or engaged by a cotton libre. rllhis operation of air washing and release is repeated again and again as the cotton progresses through the machine the particles removed passing out of they cotton to the fan, until the seed cotton is thoroughly cleansed of the damaging particles and, aft a* ginning and carding is ready for the spinner in proper condition to avoid breakage in the process.

In Figures 3 and 5 l illustrate amodilied form of my device, in which a travelling screen belt isemployed instead of a screen drum and also in which the suction element is duplicated above and below the cotton.

ln Figure 3 within a frame casing 2O are mounted two pairs of hexagonal drums 21, upon shafts 22. One of these'shafts 22 projects beyond the side of the frame casing 2O to receive suitable driving pulleys, 7, 7, 7", 7c. Preferably the pulley ycarrying shaft would be that at the exitend of the machine messes (right hand end, Fig. 3), as this drive would tend to tauten the screen belts along their operative faces. Mounted upon the two pairs of drums are two screen belts 23 made up of a multiplicity of panels or frames 23 covered with wire mesh 2C of suitable size. Beneath and within the lower belt 23 and above and within the upper belt 23 is a vacuum chamber 24 provided with a series of slots 25 and connected by pipes 2G passingout of the machine on one side, with an air fan, or fans.V Between each pair of slots 25 is a trough 25, extending transversely of the. machine, opening at each e-nd to the atmosphere through an aligned aperture 2Oa in the sides of the casing 20. The upper belt 23 carries a series of transverse ioats 23". rfthe cotton is fed into the machine at the inlet 27 and is discharged at the exit 28. rlh-e operation of this duplex form of my device is as follows: suitable quantity through inlet 27 falls upon the lower screen belt 23 and is carried along upon that belt, beneath the lower reach ofl the upper belt, the floats 231 passing into the upper surface of the cotton and segregating a portion of the cottonfrom ingress of air through the inlet opening 27 or the exit opening 2S. At the entrance and exit positions, air may be received through those openings, passing through the belt screens and drums, but in the other position the floats 23b cut off air currents from ,either end and air is received through the troughs 25, Referring to Figure 3, it will be observed that as the cotton is carried along it successively passes suction slots 25 and that while the cotton is over or under a suction slot there is provision for the ingress of air on that side of the cotton away from the suction slot. As the suction slots are staggered in their arrangement the cotton is successively swept by cleansing, high-fqieed, air current-s going from above the cotton down and then from below the cotton up, the dirt passing through the screens to the fan.

l claim:

l. ln an air cotton cleaner, a moving screen for supporting a seed cotton layer; a plurality of nozzles operatively arranged in series beneath the screen, means to actuate the screen past the successive nozzles; vacuum means to induce an air inrush through the screen to each nozzle.

2. ln an air cotton cleaner, a moving screen for supporting a seed cotton layer; a vacuum chamber beneaththe screen, provided with a plurality of nozzles operatively rranged in series adjacent to the und-er surface of the screen; means to actuate the screen past the successive nozzles; vacuum means to maintain a partial vacuum in the vacuum chamber to induce lan air inrushy through the screen to each nozzle.

3. In an air cotton cleaner, a belt screen Cotton being fed inl lill for supporting a seed-cotton layer; the screen travelling upon a pair of drums; a vacuum chamber Within the screen, provided with a plurality of nozzles operatively arranged inseries adjacent to the under surface of the cotton carrying screen, the suecessive nozzles being separated by air troughs, open at their ends to the atmosphere; a second belt screen, parallel with and above the rst screen; a vacuum chamber Within thisr screen, provided with a plurality of nozzles CHARLES M. NEvITT. 

